Katelyn Brown

McHugh Environmental Science

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
708 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

5.0

conversations

with people
UP TO

360

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

84

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

1.0

public official or leader

contacted

Katelyn 's actions

Food

Contact your Elected Officials

#23 Farmland Restoration

I will contact 1 elected officials to voice my opinion on the importance of restoring farmland in my region, including both public and private land.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Materials

Properly Dispose of Refrigerants

#1 Refrigerant Management

I will spend at least 120 minutes learning how to properly dispose of my refrigerator, freezer, and other refrigerants at the end of their useful lives.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Forest-Friendly Foods 1

#5 Tropical Forests

I will spend at least 120 minutes researching the impact of my diet to see how it contributes to deforestation.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Materials

Eliminate Toxic Plastics

#47 Bioplastic

I will avoid buying toxic plastics, including polycarbonate, polystyrene and polyvinyl and instead replace them with bioplastic or durable options.

COMPLETED 14
DAILY ACTIONS

Materials

Share Bioplastic Disposal Tips

#47 Bioplastic

I will spend at least 60 minutes researching how to properly dispose of bioplastics in my city and share this information with 5 friends, family and/or colleagues.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Forest-Friendly Foods 2

#5 Tropical Forests

I will replace or remove the palm oil, coffee, and cocoa products in my current diet that are known to contribute to deforestation.

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Land Use

Buy Bamboo

#35 Bamboo

When they are available, I will purchase products made from bamboo instead of wood, plastic, or metal.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Use

Learn about Temperate Forests

#12 Temperate Forests

I will spend at least 60 minutes learning more about the environmental services provided by and the environmental issues affecting temperate forests.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Materials

Recycle Everything I Can

#55 Household Recycling

I will recycle all materials that are accepted by local haulers or drop stations in my community.

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Participant Feed

Reflection, encouragement, and relationship building are all important aspects of getting a new habit to stick.
Share thoughts, encourage others, and reinforce positive new habits on the Feed.

To get started, share “your why.” Why did you join the challenge and choose the actions you did?

REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Contact your Elected Officials

Do you have any personal connections to a farm or farmland? If so, what are they? What feelings are evoked for you when thinking about declining farmland?

Katelyn Brown 4/24/2019 10:51 AM

My great uncles live in Montana and one used to live in Walla Walla, Oregon. They have very busy lives on the farms and it hurt me to think that farms are being abandoned and left to erode. I'm glad that I was able to complete this challenge.

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Katelyn Brown 4/23/2019 5:38 PM

Almost Done!!!!! I only have to go one more day without Palm Oil, Coffee or Cocoa products. It will be so nice to allow myself to eat a piece of my sisters chocolate cake. Or her double fudge brownies. She also went to extra mile yesterday and made freaking lava cake. They looked so good, the batter seeping out of the yummy chocolate cake. My mouth watered!!!! Glad i'm almost done not eating those three things.

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Katelyn Brown 4/18/2019 9:57 AM

I finally found Bamboo utensils!!!!!! I had gone shopping with friends yesterday and we wanted to go into this weird store filled with random knickknacks and I ended up straying from the group. I was in a random corner when I happened to look up and saw bamboo utensils hanging on a hook. I'm glad I was able to finish the challenge, I was starting to worry that I wasn't going to be able to fine bamboo utensils in time.

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Katelyn Brown 4/16/2019 10:00 AM

Things are getting harder and harder not to eat. Especially chocolate!!! With Easter coming up this Sunday my sister is a a huge baking spree, along with my mother. We are in charge of dessert for Easter dinner so they are making cookies, our grandmother's apple strudel, and any spring cake recipe that my sister can find. I AM DYING!!!!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Materials Properly Dispose of Refrigerants

How do you address your own feelings of concern, fear or despair about climate change?

Katelyn Brown 4/12/2019 10:10 AM

Climate change has been something I have been learning more and more about this year. It seems to come up more and more in different classes showing me that this is a huge issue that most people have just been pushing aside. But with it becoming more and more of a problem I see the changes that people are making in their everyday lives in order to help the earth become healthy again. I haven't really had concern, fear or despair on the matter due to me not really being affected by the changes around the world, other than Portland becoming warmer in the summer (Kill Me). But with the problem becoming more and more relevant I have found the need to change how I throw away trash or how much I waste.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Materials Eliminate Toxic Plastics

What single-use items (e.g. straws, coffee cups, vegetable bags, plastic bags) do you regularly use? What could be substituted instead?

Katelyn Brown 4/12/2019 9:57 AM

I tend to use plastic bags the most. I usually use them to hold fruit or snacks for school. Recently I have been using reusable glass/metal containers. I don't know why I never used them before considering how much easier it is. Fruit or snacks would sometimes spill out due to the bag opening, but with the reusable containers they stay in the bowl. I plan to try and not ever use plastic bags again. I plan to buy reusable fabric bags and shop with those instead of use the provided ones at supermarkets.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Use Forest-Friendly Foods 1

How is your diet currently impacting deforestation? What can you do to decrease your negative impact and increase your positive impact?

Katelyn Brown 4/10/2019 10:27 AM

I eat a lot of processed foods, most of those foods contain palm oil, coffee and cocoa products. These products contribute to deforestation when harvesting the product. I no longer want to contribute to that. So I have decided to take part in the Forest-Friendly-Foods 2 challenge and have taken those things out of my diet.

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Katelyn Brown 4/10/2019 10:19 AM

Straying from Palm Oil and Cocoa products is proving to be one of the hardest things in the challenge. Palm Oil seems to be in almost everything that I used to eat, hard to keep away from ramen noodles especially, that is something I used to make all the time as a quick and easy meal. My sister has taken it upon herself to make me miserable by cooking as many chocolate sweets as possible. Double chocolate cookies, chocolate cake, fudge brownies, and every time I have to tell myself to stay strong and not give in to the temptation. SCREW YOU JUSTINE!!!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Materials Share Bioplastic Disposal Tips

What concerns you the most about how we are affecting the planet? Consider both local and global actions.

Katelyn Brown 4/10/2019 10:14 AM

I am concerned about how future generations are going to have to live after all that we have done to the earth so far. We have loaded our oceans with plastic and trash, we have filled the earth with our waste and forgetting about it. With everything that is changing on the earth such as global warming and CO2 levels rising we could really start to hurt people with our waste. For all we know humans could be extinct in the next hundred to thousand years. Things need to change now and quickly.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Use Learn about Temperate Forests

As you learn more about the scope and seriousness of the environmental challenges we face, what impact does that have on your thinking and actions? What are the parts that feel overwhelming? What parts help you feel hopeful?

Katelyn Brown 4/10/2019 10:10 AM

Learning more and more about what we are doing to our temperate forests make me that much more aware of how I affect the world I am living in. This challenge has made me want to be better when taking care of my waste and try not to waste as much as I used to.

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